Federal regulators push to open airwaves for 'super Wi-Fi'

Wailin Wong, Tribune Newspapers

American consumers, in as little as one year, could be seeing a new kind of "super Wi-Fi" that can penetrate walls and cover large areas, enabling developments from rural broadband networks to smart homes where gadgets and appliances are wirelessly linked.

This is the technological future envisioned by the Federal Communications Commission, which will vote this month on the use of "white spaces," or prime spectrum that regulators want to open for supercharged mobile broadband applications.

"Broadband is incredibly important for our economy in the 21st century because it's horizontal 21st century infrastructure," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski told Tribune Newspapers. "It's the information grid that's as important in the 21st century as the electric grid was in the 20th century."

White spaces are vacant frequencies that reside between TV channels. The FCC wants this spectrum to be freed up for unlicensed use, hoping to repeat the explosion in innovation that took place more than two decades ago when regulators opened up unlicensed airwaves. That move led to the birth of Wi-Fi, as well as now-commonplace consumer electronics such as cordless telephones, garage door openers and baby monitors.

"When the FCC released unlicensed spectrum in 1985, no one knew innovators would develop Wi-Fi," Genachowski said. "Having spectrum like this that is released for unlicensed use, that is a platform for innovative entrepreneurs, is very important. It's something that the U.S. should be a leader in, and it will catalyze private investment."

Technology companies such as Google, Microsoft and Motorola have long been eager to use this spectrum for new waves of wireless devices and applications. The FCC uses the term "super Wi-Fi" because the airwaves can pierce walls and cover much larger areas than traditional Wi-Fi, providing for a more reliable connection and fewer dead zones.

Genachowski said he expects products using super Wi-Fi to be available within a year of the FCC's Sept. 23 vote.

The white spaces also have sparked controversy because television broadcasters and users of wireless microphones, such as performers and churches, said opening up the spectrum to more devices would interfere with their signals.

The National Association of Broadcasters "is working constructively with the FCC in hopes that the agency adopts final 'white spaces' rules that preserve the ability of local and network broadcasters to deliver interference-free television," NAB Executive Vice President Dennis Wharton said in a statement.

Genachowski said he's confident the FCC can push ahead with its plan.

"The benefits to our economy and the spur to private investment are so significant that it's very important that we move forward," he said.